The story of how a Powys town made global news in 1983

Powys County Times

5 days ago

2025 marks the centenary of the death of the eccentric French composer Erik Satie.
A variety of events will be taking place across the country to celebrate his music and some will remember his impact on the Powys border town of Presteigne in 1983.
Satie's mesmerically strange piano composition called 'Vexations' was played by composer and music teacher Adrian Vernon-Fish with his pupil 16 year old Dawn Pye, in the front parlour of Archie Dobson's house on the High Street in Presteigne.
The composition is only 16 bars long but Satie required it to be repeated 840 times, 'tres lentement'- very slowly.
Satie had in effect created a Musical Marathon requiring at least 50 repetitions an hour, which would take at least 17 hours to complete.
Adrian had suggested this event as he was passionate to undertake this marathon in the hope that it would help to boost the fund-raising efforts of the recently constituted Mid Border Community Arts Association which had been created and run by volunteers who were busy fund-raising for the very first Presteigne Festival to be launched later in September.
Adrian knew that he would not be able to fit a piano into the front parlour, so instead he installed his electric organ with an electric keyboard if any back up was needed.
The story is taking up by Lynden Rees-Roberts who said: "I suggested maybe people could drop-in and be sponsored to see how long they could sit and listen to it. This was agreed by our MBCAA committee.
"I made contact with Phil Rickman, our local Mid Wales correspondent for the Press Association, who at first, was less than enthusiastic, until I revealed that the same short piece was to be repeated very slowly 840 times.
'What's that going to be like?, he asked. ' Probably very boring' I replied.
Phil then became animated and said 'Now that's interesting'.
"I had no idea that this short conversation was to be so vital for what was to become an utterly bizarre experience for all of us involved in the performance of Satie's Vexations.
"To our total surprise, just three days before the performance of Vexations, The Guardian ran a front page article not only discussing Satie's eccentric music but also previewing our musical event in Presteigne.
"Within hours we had phone calls from the BBC in Cardiff and Harlech Television HTV who were arranging to send teams to Presteigne.
At 7am Adrian started his performance of Vexations on what proved to be the hottest day of the year.
Lynden added: "Very few people came in to begin with, but some did stop to see why a school bell was being rung by a man in a top hat and tails, namely my husband Gareth Rees-Roberts who approximately every 12 minutes made the announcement, 'Oh yeah, oh yeah another 10 repetitions.
"As the day got hotter and hotter, more press arrived from Radio Hereford and Worcester plus camera crews from HTV and Cardiff, as well as reporters from the Telegraph, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, the Mirror, Birmingham Post, Shropshire Star and Hereford Times.
"They all based themselves across the road, in Tony's Fish and Chip Bar, which happened to have a telephone on the wall from which they dictated copy for the next day's newspapers."
After five hours Dawn had to take over on the back-up keyboard because the organ had started to overheat. It was so hot that Adrian's fingers were sticking to the keys.
Local artist Isylwyn Watkins listened for more than four hours, collecting sponsorship for more than 200 repetitions. He declared it was very relaxing.
Lynden said: "Then in the early evening someone popped by and said that our event was on the National News at Six. Suddenly the small parlour room was inundated with townsfolk curious to see what was happening and a crowd soon gathered in the street outside.
At around midnight an exhausted but relieved Adrian and Dawn stood up and were greeted with applause and overwhelming admiration by those who had stayed to the end.
Local policeman Charlie Edwards arrived with a bottle of champagne which was shared around the room and announced that Adrian and Dawn had performed a 17 hour Mantra which had lifted a cloud from the town.
By now the world press was chasing the story and the following day organisers were contacted by South African morning television followed by another one from the Sidney Telegraph.
Reports of the event were published as far afield as the New York Times, The Jamaica Daily Gleaner, the Athens News, The Boston Globe and Le Monde.
Lynden said: "This completely unexpected level of publicity created a massive boost to the credibility and future success of the MBCAA and its plans for the first Presteigne Festival in September.
"In effect Presteigne went viral in a pre-internet age.